


Trade It for the Rose

by little_shinra



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Big Bang Challenge, Curses, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Injury, Isolation, Minor Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23370748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_shinra/pseuds/little_shinra
Summary: Yusuke has had made barters longer than he wished to remember. This one he aims to be his last. Then curses came into play, along with beasts that haunt the night and a mansion that breathes.This curse will need more than a simple trade to be lifted.
Relationships: Kitagawa Yusuke/Okumura Haru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Trade It for the Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Entry for the Persona 5 Dark Big Bang.

“Here we are.”

The driver pulled in the brake, letting his passengers unload a bound and gagged man from within the motor car's small trunk.

Yusuke struggled as he was carried up a stone wall and tossed over its side, missing the prickly bushes growing beside it. The driver moved out the car and hung over the top of the wall, opening a pocketknife.

“Survive the night and we will talk further about that offer.” He dropped it to Yusuke, unabashed by the latter's flinch as the small blade bounced too close for his face.

They waved him off, laughing to themselves as they loaded into the motor car and drove back onto the road.

Yusuke crawled for the knife and, through their restrictive hold, sawed across the ropes around his wrists. He removed the gag and undid the binding on his ankles, tossing them aside. Careful to not brush against the thorny bushes, Yusuke touched the wall he had been unceremoniously thrown across.

The loud sputtering engine of the motor car had disappeared, its absence weighing the situation heavier on Yusuke’s mind. This was it, the last chance they will give him. Pocketing the knife, he turned to the mansion.

He had heard tales of places like this. A mansion covered in vines, shrouded in a magical curse. The visible state in low moonlight alone carried abandonment in physical form. The outer gardens surrounding the building had seen far better days. Branches jutted wildly out of what had been carefully pruned bushes. Vines with long thorns covered the stair rails, the pillars, and crawled up the mansion walls, as if conceived from its very heart, spread like an infestation. Yusuke cautiously maneuvered the steps, avoiding those grabbing tendrils. He stood at the main doors, searching up and down the walkways for any signs of life, of even animals that may have made this place their new home. There was not a whisper or peep to hear. Yusuke considered going back to the wall and attempt scaling it before shaking his head.

_It's just a night. Then they’d have to listen._

Placing his hands on the faded detail doors, he pushed forth, opening to an even darker interior. It took some minutes for his eyes to adjust and be able to see shapes of things inside, making the light of the waning moon seem bright.

A steady sound hummed through the foyer, as if the walls were breathing. From where he stood, a twin spiral staircase led to the upper floor, and a mosaic glass door between them led to an interior garden.

“Hello?” he called out, his echo replying in kind. Yusuke took a chance at the glass door and peeked through the clear panes. Inside, floods of green and bright colored leaves filled the view, full of joyful life lost on the dismayed front gardens he had acquainted with. However, the door was locked, barring him from further investigation. To see it during the day would’ve been a treat.

Yusuke pulled away, chilled by an unease, a feeling that he was being watched. He walked back to the main doors, looking up and down the halls. Barren.

_Just my imagination. All those stories are getting to my head._

He told himself. They didn’t leave him here just for the sheer fun of it. They were far past that. Somewhere in this place Yusuke had to seek a treasure, anything left behind by the royals that vacated the estate years ago. He wasn’t the first to pursue the intent, but the ones that went in fueled the stories, the rumors of a threat that the estate housed. They did not speak of it, but their collected bodies told the story in their stead. If he proved his survival for this night, with a treasure in hand…

“Another one?” A voice gasped. Yusuke spun to the source of it. A large shadow ducked into the hall at the top of the eastern stairs.

“Who’s there? Wait!” Yusuke chased after, scaling up the stairs to find the door barred from the other side.

“You… What are you doing in a place like this?” he spoke to the door.

“I live here,” the voice was effeminate, deepened by an octave through the wood. “This is my home.”

“… But a terrible beast is said to live here. It’s dangerous.”

The voice didn’t respond at first. “Then in that case, why are _you_ here?” they retorted. “Did you come to break the curse?”

Not wanting to get kicked out, Yusuke replied, “Yes?”

“… Move away from the door. Don’t pretend. I will know.” Yusuke obeyed. A bell chimed. “Now back down the stairs.”

Yusuke followed and the door opened. When he looked back, all he could make out was an indiscernible shape, large and watching him over the stair rail.

“You have been aware of the rules, I presume?” the voice inquired.

“No. No one's told me anything about that.”

“... That's impossible...” Yusuke took a step closer to the stairs. The voice moved closer to the hall. “Here's what you must know: The east wing is off limits. Those are my private quarters. The rest of the estate is yours to explore, but I warn against going into the woods past the wall. Dinner is at 8, always. I will not be responsible for your tardiness. One final thing, I suggest you wander in silence. Some of us here don't react kindly to noise.”

“‘Us’? Who else is here?”

The shadow paused. “Whoever is left. You’re free to sleep wherever you wish. Make certain your room is locked for the night.”

“Wha-?” The shadow slipped further into the east hall, footsteps fading in the distance. “What is your name?”

—

After the master of the mansion vanished, a doll approached Yusuke. She was made of jointed wood with a painted face and in working dress. She carried a candlestick in her arms.

“Greetings, guest. You must be tired. Let me take you to your room in my master’s stead.”

Yusuke stared at the doll as they walked. “If I may ask, who else is here?”

“Mmm, just us.”

“My apologies for my intrusion. I thought this place was abandoned.”

“No need to apologize. You are not the first to visit with that thought. Though you are the first in a long time.”

She stopped at a door.

“You can rest here.”

“I’ll only be staying here for the night. I don’t wish to burden your master.”

“A pity you can’t stay longer with us. If you need anything else, there’s a bell pull next to the door. Give it a tug and I’ll come.”

She handed him the candlestick, spared a glance at something in the shadows, and left him alone.

The room inside was modest to a degree. Yusuke noted the crafted details in the furniture, the fabric of the curtains by the window and bed, the carpeting on the floor among the darkness as he locked the door and removed the key. They were things he knew spelled wealth and hierarchy, things he had seen in limited capacity from the homes he had visited on behalf of his guardian. Stability within their beauty.

Yusuke ran his hand over the duvet, letting its patterned texture sink into his fingers. It was hard to see by candlelight, though he could make out shades of blue and waves and curls of inky detail. He pushed into it, noting the airy stuffing inside. Duvets as lovely as these were sparse in his memories. Ones where gentle hands tucked him to bed and smelled of blossoms and ink as he lulled to sleep.

Pulling away, Yusuke undid the tie in his hair and slipped out of his clothes, setting them on a chair. He donned the nightshirt left for him and climbed into bed, staring at the ceiling.

This put a dent to his plan. He hesitated to pillage the place knowing someone was master to the estate. Then, what of the stories? Were there even beasts in the first place or were they warnings of something worse? Were they just the words of a royal hermit to obtain solitude? Yusuke shook his head. He needed to bring back a treasure, otherwise… the Specter of Ends would be greeting him.

The voice said something of a curse.

Yusuke blew out the candle, letting the darkness take over like a safety blanket. He rolled back under the covers, reminding himself to blink.

Maybe he could use it to gain favor.

—

The shadow entered her room, ignoring the comfort its sight normally granted her. The sight of the rose mural on her wall from the window filled her with dread as the moon’s light scarcely touched their petals, the one source of life that fueled their protection.

“My oh my, who is this new person within my walls?”

The shadow shrank at the voice's cackle. “Oh, it never ends. Your best efforts have been wasted. Another has been sent to be delivered punishment.”

“He doesn't know the rules,” the shadow feebly pleaded. “He shouldn't be here.”

“What difference does it make? He's going to die. The lust for blood must be satiated.”

She knelt to the floor, her body shaking. “I can’t. Too many lives have been taken. He has done nothing, committed no sin against me.”

 _Please. Escape from here, stranger._ She prayed.

The shadow looked out at the waning moon, the withering frame of roses in the corners of her vision. Darkness closed around them. With it, something wild and terrible crept closer and closer to the surface. Her prayers faded, buried deep under a wretched feeling. In their place, a dreaded lullaby.

—

Yusuke woke to a whistling in his room. He sat up in bed, scanning for the source in the darkness.

It sounded akin to air that leaked through a window during a storm, keeping a regular interval between the eerie pitches.

Yusuke looked toward the window itself, but the sound did not come from there. The sky was clear with stars. He crawled across the bed, hands out toward the wall. Embedded into it was a servant’s tube. A lid covered it, the wind streaming through a small hole in the metal. Yusuke unlatched it, letting the lid hang. In place of the whistling that woke him, a familiar deep hum continued breathing, in and out.

Then a song began to play, following along the unearthly sound.

The hollow music sent chills through Yusuke’s spine. Something growled somewhere outside. A voice in the back of his mind raised alarm; he needed to hide. Yusuke lifted the covers and crawled under the bed. He strained his ears for the danger his mind sensed. Nothing joined the music, the breathing from the walls, for a long time.

Then he heard the footsteps. Heavy, the wood creaking under as their owner moved though the hall on the other side. Yusuke closed his eyes when it stopped at his door. The locked knob trembled, and the door shook from a great force. He held his breath, praying it to go away. The soothing instruments, the slams, and frantic shaking of the doorknob filled his head. Yusuke called upon those happy memories he’d play in his head to block out the world when something bad happened. The gentle hands holding him, wrapping him in their warmth, while his small hands played with a braid of hair.

When he opened his eyes again, dawn had arrived, and his neck screamed from the pose he slept in. All the sounds of the previous night had vanished. Yusuke pulled himself out, adjusting his head against the end of the mattress. It wasn’t the worst he’d felt, but he knew it would linger. He rubbed the area, careful to turn his head around, then he faced the door.

New cracks branched from the center and up and down the blue paint. He dressed himself, keeping a wary eye over his shoulder for the moment it would finally break open. Yusuke checked the lock, still intact despite the strength of the night visitor that left the rest of the door in disrepair. He slipped the key in and turned the knob. The frame stuck and Yusuke forced it open, before looking out and down at the floor.

Scratches crisscrossed and gouged the wood, making the other side look akin to cracked porcelain. Yusuke stepped over the small pile of chips on the rug. A bodily cold brought tremors through his body.

_The stories are true after all._

—

Food waited on a small plate by the time Yusuke found the dining room.

“Did you rest well?” the servant doll smiled. Yusuke remembered the sprain in his neck.

“Where is your master?” he asked the servant.

“I am sorry to say that she will not be joining us,” she said. Yusuke’s heart seized. “She has requested to spend today in her room and will not be open for company. Apologies that you both will not be able to dine together.”

Yusuke let out the breath he was holding. “Please let her know I thank her for the… hospitality. Despite the circumstances.”

The servant titled her head. “I’ll be sure to pass that on.”

—

That night, Yusuke listened for the car at the allotted time. It never came.


End file.
